HHS awards Affordable Care Act funds for organizations to become community health centers

[cbayer]

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

WASHINGTON, Sep 15, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced awards totaling $10 million to aid 129 organizations across the country that would like to become community health centers. These funds, made available by the Affordable Care Act, support organizations' development as a future health center.

Health centers improve the health of the nation and assure access to quality primary health care services at more than 8,100 service delivery sites around the country. Health centers provide comprehensive, high-quality preventive and primary health care to patients regardless of their ability to pay; charges for services are set according to income.

"Supporting the development of new community health centers will help us meet the healthcare needs of millions while supporting local jobs and economic growth in communities nationwide," said Secretary Sebelius.

Community health centers are also an integral source of local employment and economic growth in many underserved and low-income communities. Since the beginning of 2009, health centers across the country have added more than 18,600 new full-time positions in many of the nation's most economically distressed communities. In 2010, they employed more than 131,000 staff and new funds, made available by HHS last week, will help create thousands more jobs nationwide.


more at link

Read more: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hhs-awards-affordable-care-act-funds-for-organizations-to-become-community-health-centers-2011-09-15

[MineralMan]

1. Good news. This benefit of the Health Care Bill is rarely

mentioned, but it has great potential. I'm glad the money is finally being distributed. Watch for these centers to do a great job. Such centers that already exist have performed valuable healthcare services for their communities for a long time.

Thanks, President Obama, for this.

[vets74]

6. Kennedy-Sanders inside ObamaCare goes up to 45,000,000 served at CHCs

Ted Kennedy's existing CHC program expanded with ObamaCare along lines developed by Bernie Sanders and Ben Cardin.

The single best thing to happen for America's working poor since food stamps:

-- 14,000 nationwide Community Health Clinics

-- Expand CHC capabilities to match VHA technology

-- 45,000,000 people served

-- $$$$$ to attract 20,000 primary care physicians, nurses, etc.

-- Drugs at VHA prices

-- Dental care

-- Patient billing scaled to income

-- No profit motive.

-- 40% saving for chronic care, 1/5th the cost for ER.

This is going up -- by 1,500 in the most recent roll outs.

Find A CHC Health Center

Alan Frumin, the Senate Parliamentarian, showed that non-budgetary insurance sections would not qualify for reconciliation. Filibusters would have doomed any Senate so-called Private Option. The P.O. was for drunks and fools. It would also have covered roughly 3,000,000 in the form put forward -- far short of the 45,000,000 that will eventually be using these CHCs.

Harry Reid concealed Sanders-Cardin till the last hour, literally, then popped it into the Senate HCR Managers Amendment. Harry's a genius.

Parts of America will become rather larger versions of Vermont. Lots of parts of America.

[BenzoDia]

9. Thanks for the info!

[yardwork]

7. The Community Health Center program has been around since the early 1970s.

Funding for CHCs expanded quite a bit under W. I'm glad that more money is being applied, but $10 million is really quite low. With tens of millions of people - many of them children - uninsured in the U.S. this is a drop in the bucket. Better than nothing, but we really need greatly expanded access to health care on a massive scale.

[MineralMan]

10. I know it's not enough. More is coming.

It's a start, though, and better than no funding. It is what it is.

[No Elephants]

14. Please see Reply 13.

[No Elephants]

13. Kennedy had a lot to do with "such centers that already exist."

Sadly, in the 1990's big hospitals were gobbling them up and imposing strict time limits and other big hospital rules on caregivers, as well as raising prices and also charging for little tasks that had never been charged for in the past.

For instance, in my area, getting a blood test went from one modest charge for a blood test, to three charges, one for the center to draw the blood, one to transport the blood to the hospital and then a for the hospital to actually test the blood--and insurance, which used to cover the entire modest change would refuse to cover the transport, that being "non-medical."

So, even insured patients who needed a blood test started to get hurt financially in ways that they had not been hurt before.

Hospital mergers were occurring at a fast pace then as well. http://www.google.com/search?q=hospital+mergers+in+the+90s+1990s&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:of

I have not looked into it, and therefore do not know, but I am inclined to think some sort of legislation at the time had newly-allowed or newly-created some incentive for the mergers and assimilation of the health centers.

And now, big hospitals, including the Community Health Centers that the big hospitals now control, are very like big business. At least that is so where I live.

[sam11111]

2. Co op health centers or hospitals or nursing homes? patient co ops that is

Any already exist?

[Kingofalldems]

3. Kick and Recommend.

[Bluenorthwest]

4. They certainly need it.

I see people lined up at the Clinic in my town all the time. Long lines. Early in the morning.

[SoapBox]

5. ...Each and Every step, that begins to progress with the act, is gonna make it harder and harder

for the GOPBaggers and Thugs to cut off the act.

[yardwork]

8. I agree with that. Another reason that we need to reelect Democrats and take back Congress.

[No Elephants]

15. Re-elect?

[BenzoDia]

11. I'm looking forward to seeing further improvements in our comunity health centers.

[dflprincess]

12. $10 million for health care

and the Afghan war is costing $300 million daily.

Glad to see the administration has its priorities straight. :sarcasm:

[BenzoDia]

16. It's just part of the overall package. According to HealthCare.gov, they plan to deliver

$10 billion over 5 years.

http://www.healthcare.gov/news/factsheets/increasing_access_.html

The Affordable Care Act: The Essential Role of Community Health Centers

The Affordable Care Act provides $11 billion to bolster and expand community health centers over the next 5 years.

$1.5 billion will support major construction and renovation projects at community health centers nationwide.
$9.5 billion will:
Create new community health center sites in medically underserved areas; and
Expand preventive and primary health care services, including oral health, behavioral health, pharmacy, and/or enabling services, at existing community health center sites.

The result will be many more people will receive health care, and many jobs will be created to build and work at these centers.

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